Web Hosting Tutorial Series

Video #9: Tips on reselling your web hosting space

This web hosting video provides some advice on reselling. It’s a popular money making idea but certain steps have to be taken in order to be successful.

Hosting space is something a large population make use of on the internet. There are a lot of things one can do with this space, but is reselling the space an option? While the thought of making money off of your hosting space may be intriguing, be cautious of this as most providers will not allow it.

Typically, web hosting providers do not allow customers with shared hosting accounts to resell hosting space. Of course, it never hurts to ask as there are some providers that allow reselling to other website owners. The place to look is with support or in the terms of service and other legal agreements as you can quickly determine if it is legal or not.

In case you are unaware of reselling, what this consists of is providing space to others online for money. Think of it as a small hosting company as you are profiting off of a shared hosting account. This is precisely why most hosting companies look down on this and feel as if they are being ripped off.

One option that you may run by is the hosting company requiring you to upgrade to a designated reseller plan if you intend to offer others space. This tends to be a win-win for everyone as the hosting company will make a little more money, your customers will have a better experience as they have their own hosting control panel, and you will be making money yourself.

If reselling web hosting space is something you are interested in, upgrading to a reseller account is certainly worth looking into. Just beware of any clauses or terms of agreement that limit exactly what you are allowed to do. Some will limit you from making your account, web space, email accounts, storage space, bandwidth and so on available to any third party.

If you are going to jump into an opportunity like this, you want to make sure there is nothing holding you back. There should be no limits whatsoever as to what you can and cannot do. The more freedom you have the more enjoyable the overall experience in the small business of reselling.

So while most web hosting companies will not allow you to resell hosting space, there are those few that do allow it. And even more promising is finding the companies that offer a reseller plan. But always look at the fine print before agreeing to any reseller plan or similar option as many hosting companies are out to get the best of you.

Up Next:

Can I host more than one website per web hosting account?

Web Hosting Tutorial Series

Video #10: Hosting more than one website per account

With the proper research you should have no problem finding a reliable hosting provider that will meet your needs and demands. While you may have to do some searching, it will all be worthwhile when the time comes to host several sites from a single company. And even if you have one site today, it is always smart to plan for growth in the future.

One of the starting points to beginning any business has to be finding a reliable and trustworthy web hosting provider. While searching for the perfect fit, there are several things to consider. If you are going to be running multiple sites or have various businesses, you will want to look at if the provider allows for more than one site to be hosted per account.

Many web hosting plans offer “unlimited domains” per account but this does not mean that an unlimited number of different websites can be hosted on the account. These plans allow you to point an unlimited number of number of domains to the same website. For example, mydomain.com, mydomain.net and mydomain.org could be pointed to the same website at no extra charge.

Therefore, if you need to host multiple websites on one account, make sure to read the package details very carefully. InMotion Web Hosting makes it very clear that its different business class hosting plans allow anywhere from 2 to 25 “Sites on 1 Account.”

In addition to this, keep in mind that purchasing add-on domain rights from a hosting provider will not give you a domain name. Instead, it will simply provide you with the ability to add that domain to your account. From there you will then still have to pay for the domain name.

If you are going to be running more than one site, there is no point in signing on with a hosting provider that does not allow you to host more than one site per account. At the same time, you do not need to worry about giving up and having multiple hosting providers to accommodate each site.

All you need to do is be cautious about violating the host’s terms of service and acceptable use policy. Make sure to pay close attention to this if you will be allowing a third party use your account in any way as well.

With the proper research you should have no problem finding a reliable hosting provider that will meet your needs and demands. While you may have to do some searching, it will all be worthwhile when the time comes to host several sites from a single company. And even if you have one site today, it is always smart to plan for growth in the future.

Up Next:

Don’t get surprised by your contract, learn the reasons a web hosting provider will suspend an account.

Web Hosting Tutorial Series

Video #11: What can get my web hosting account suspended?

For the most part, web hosting providers are reasonable and willing to work with their customers. At the same time, there are those certain aspects that are prohibited and can get your account suspended if you are not careful. To ensure you never have to face this dilemma, here are a few things that can get your account suspended from various providers.

For the most part, web hosting providers are reasonable and willing to work with their customers. At the same time, there are those certain aspects that are prohibited and can get your account suspended if you are not careful. To ensure you never have to face this dilemma, here are a few things that can get your account suspended from various providers.

One of the most common reasons for an account being suspended is if you exceed your storage and bandwidth limit or frequently use up a large amount of server resources like CPU and memory. There are providers that offer unlimited bandwidth and disk space that can help prevent this problem. The key is making sure the company is not a fraud as many that offer unlimited options tend to be.

Spam email messages that are sent from your account are another big no-no. Not only is this problematic for the provider, but for the recipient as well. Along those same lines includes hosting or linking to material that infringes the rights of a third party or any Federal, State or local laws, and hosting or linking to pornography.

As mentioned, there are those hosting providers that are reasonable and willing to work with customers. In such case, you may find the host will give you a warning before your account is suspended. However, you should never rely on a warning and stay on the safe side.

Outside of a suspended account, there are also those rare instances where the provider will simply terminate the account without a warning or suspension. If you are attempting to gain unauthorized access to someone else’s account or files, you can expect termination. The other instance where this may occur is if you verbally or physically abuse or threat the company’s employees. Whether it is over the phone, through email or in person, this is cause for immediate termination.

The thing you need to understand is that every hosting provider is different. They have different features, rules, and guidelines you will want to become familiar with prior to agreeing to any long-term contract of any sort.

After considering your options, it is vital you look at everything carefully. You will want to ask the hosting provider about their abuse, legal, or support department or check their acceptable use policy, terms of service, and other legal agreements to get clarifications. As long as you do not push the limits and steer clear of the mistakes listed in this article, you should have no problems with your account being suspended or terminated.

Up Next:

Learn more about uptime guarantees and how they affect your website.

Web Hosting Tutorial Series

Video #3: What’s the difference between shared, dedicated, and other types of hosting?

This video tutorial will teach you about the different types of hosting so that you can determine what type of service might be right your web site.

In our first video, we briefly touched on the different types of web hosting that are available on the market today. If you are just getting started, more than likely you’ll want a shared hosting provider for your website.

Shared hosting means that your website is hosted on a server that is shared by other customers and that your web hosting provider is the one responsible for managing and monitoring your site. Inexpensive and popular, shared hosting is the easiest and cheapest way to get started with hosting your website online.

However, if your account frequently uses up a lot of server resources – for example if your website draws incredibly high amounts of traffic or uses a lot of video – your hosting provider will probably require you to upgrade to something more suited to accommodate your website’s needs:

Reseller hosting. One option is another type of “shared” hosting called reseller hosting. This basically allows you to sell shared hosting accounts to other people. Sometimes a reseller server will be less crowded and better suited to websites with high resource usage.

Dedicated servers. A dedicate server is the most expensive form of web hosting, costing anywhere from $40-100 a month. However, unless you know how to manage the server yourself, a dedicated server is probably not a smart option. If you don’t know a thing about server administration, you would probably need an entry level managed server, which is even more expensive.

Managed dedicated servers. A managed dedicated server leaves the hardest parts of operating a server to experienced technicians, allowing you to focus more on your websites, less on the technology. Typically an entry level managed dedicated server will cost around $200 a month.

Virtual dedicated server. On a slightly smaller scale is the virtual dedicated server (VDS), also known as virtual private server (VPS). In this situation, a hosting company divides a very powerful dedicated server up into separate “virtual” servers using virtualization software. Each virtual server gets its own operating system, and acts almost exactly like a real dedicated server. How powerful a VDS truly is can vary depending on the hosting provider and the plan you choose.

How can you tell which one is right for you? It all depends on what your website requires. Shared hosting is well-suited for personal websites and small businesses. A dedicated server is more appropriate for larger hosting needs, yet is considerably more expensive. By knowing your site requirements, you can determine which is solution is right for you.

Up Next:

Now that you are clear on the types of different hosting, let’s talk about the software that allows you to manage your website, the control panel.

Web Hosting Tutorial Series

Video #2: What are web servers? Why are they necessary?

This video tutorial will teach you what a web server is and why they are essential to running your website.

Web servers are computers that have been set up by a hosting company, usually in a facility called a datacenter. A web server’s primary purpose is to store the content of websites – HTML web pages, images, style sheets, etc – and then quickly deliver that information to a visitor’s browser when it is requested.

Ordinarily, a server is able to respond to at multiple requests at a time – even hundreds. However, the number of websites a server can comfortably host at a time depends on a wide variety of factors, ranging from the physical (server hardware) to demand (how popular a site is).

Even the most expensive server hardware isn’t very useful without the appropriate software. The most important software programs of a web server are also called servers, or daemons. Software servers are key to getting things done. At a minimum, most servers used for web hosting have at least these four types of software servers running at all times:

• HTTP or web – serves the websites
• FTP – enables you (and in some situations others) to upload information to the website
• Email – allows you to send and receive email messages
• Database – stores essential data and information essential for operating the website

Perhaps you’re wondering if web servers are even necessary or why you need to pay a company to provide you with this type of service. Why can’t you just run your websites from a computer at home? Trust us, there are several very good reasons:

1. Most ISPs (Internet Service Providers) specifically disallow people from running any type of web-related server on their networks. Doing so can potentially get your Internet account suspended or terminated.

2. In addition, most consumer broadband ISPs aren’t reliable enough for hosting websites. Do you want people to be able to visit your sites at all hours of the day, every day of the week? That won’t be possible if your Internet connection is acting up or your ISP is performing maintenance.

3. Another consideration to factor in is the costs of running a computer for extended periods – this include the cost of any parts that may fail, plus increased electricity costs.

Still skeptical about why you can’t just use your personal computer as a server? A big factor to consider is the upload speed of your connection. While broadband connections are increasingly getting faster and faster, the upload speeds of your Internet connection are usually about 10-20 times slower than download speeds. When running a server on your computer, your upload speed would directly determine the total download speed shared across everyone accessing your sites. More than likely, you’ll only be able to offer up a megabit or two. Even if you’re just hosting a basic website with only a few pictures on it, that bandwidth will quickly be used up by only a few people.

On the other hand, a professional server with a hosting provider, offers connections that are as fast as 10,000 megabits. You’d have to pay a fortune to get even a 100 megabit connection to your house, whereas a hosting provider can offer you space on a server with an ultra-high speed connection for a fraction of the cost.

Up Next:

Now that you understand what a web server is, let’s move on and discuss the difference between shared, dedicated, and other types of web hosting .